Demodex Mites, also known as face mites,
are not so well known by the public. They are parasites which live on
the face and in the hair follicles of humans. They can badly damage the
facial skin of humans, usually starting at middle age when the immune
system is weakened and their population has increased.

There
are two existing types: the longer kind, Demodex folliculorum,
which live in the hair follicles and the short ones, Demodex brevis,
which live in the sebaceous glands.

The mites are invisible to the naked
eye, usually measuring between 100 – 300 microns in length. In the “FAQ"
section we explain how you can find them
under the microscope and provide more information about demodex mites.

The mites can live
on all body parts wherever there are hair roots and sebaceous glands however,
they are most prevalent in the facial area, especially the nose, forehead,
chin, and cheeks. These areas have the most favourable living and breeding
conditions and provide an optimum temperature for them to thrive.

The
Demodex folliculorum mite can also live in the eye lash roots and can be the reason
for blepharitis (ocular rosacea), itching and infections. The hair follicles
from the scalp are also often infected with itching as a result.

The mouth
of these mites is like a very sharp needle that can directly sting into
the cells to absorb nutrition. They like a wet and warm environment and
become the most active in the dark.There
are five stages in the life cycle. After mating on the surface of the
skin, they go back into it and lay eggs, taking bacteria with them and
excreting wastes and secretions, laying eggs and dying within its layers.
After death, their corpses become liquid and decompose inside the skin.

5.
A Chapter from the book “Unbelievable cures & medicines from China”

talks about Professor Zhao Zhongzhou

Acne
disfigures, temporarily or permanently, some
130 million Chinese and countless other millions worldwide. Unlike most
Western doctors, Zhao Zhongzhou believes the sole cause of the complaint
to be a parasite called demodex. Eradicating its infestation of facial
habitats, he stresses, is the essential step to give people blemish-free
complexions.

Over
the centuries, physicians have offered scores of theories to explain spotty
faces, ranging from eating too much chocolate to citrus fruits, from apples
to adolescence. But the stubborn red swellings remain on many faces.

Zhao Zhongzhou is believed to be one
of the first doctors in the world who is capable of eliminating spots
wherever they might be, after identifying the sole culprit: a parasite
called demodex.

Zhao, 80 years old by now has 40 years’
experience e as a surgeon, initially in the People’s Liberation Army,
then in a hospital, he invented Zhongzhou Ointment and is now the chairman
of the board of directors of Kunming Zhongzhou Pharmaceutical Corporation
Limited, based in Kunming, capital of
southwest China’s YunnanProvince.

With an invention patent granted by
China’s
State Patent Office, the ointment wiped acne off the faces of 93.46 %
of 107 patients who took part in a clinical test in 1985-86.

Now, more than 100 acne rosacea clinics
have opened in China.

They exclusively use Zhongzhou Ointment
for treating the ailment.

A number of dermatologists working in
the clinics say that many of their patients had suffered for 20 or 30
years from acarodermatitis, and had tried every medicinal ointment touted
as being a cure, but to no avail.

Their unpleasant symptoms subsided only
after they used Zhongzhou Ointment.

A survey of 2,723 acne cases, conducted
at the Hospital Affiliated with the Military Medicine Academy in Beijing,
No.2 Hospital Affiliated with the Shenyang Medical
College and six other clinics around the country, between March 1986 and
October 1992, revealed an improvement rate of 99,7 % and a cure rate of
93,39 %.

At a clinic in Zhangzhou,
in southeast China’s FujianProvince, the
cure rate was as high as 96,22 %.

XiongHeping of the Xi’an
Bakery and Confectionery in ShaanxiProvince says that he used to have a red face covered with acne.

“I was very worried, I visited a number of hospitals
in Xi’an and used dozens of bottles of a medicine
said to be effective for acne rosacea, but I stayed spotty” Xiong says.

After using a few bottles of Zhongzhou
Ointment in the fall of 1991, however, only two small red spots were left
beside his nose.

He felt sure that they would disappear
if he continued to use the ointment.

“Zhongzhou
Ointment is miraculous” he proclaims.

The ointment consists of about eight
Chinese and Western medicines such as sulphur,
zinc oxide and Java brucea. It acts as a kind
of germicide to kill the demodex on the skin of the face.

“More
often than not, most of the demodex will be killed within a month”
Zhao says.

Aside from killing demodex, reducing
inflammation and soothing itching which leads
to pain – which is the main complaint about acarodermatitis apart from
its unsightliness – the ointment also moistens the skin.

After several weeks’ use, patients can
usually look in the mirror and see an unblemished facial appearance the
likes of which they may have missed for years, or even decades.

And since the ointment is hormone –
free and contains no poisonous substances such as lead, benzene or mercury,
its long – term use will have no detrimental or side effects and its ingredients
are non – addictive.

Zhao says that acarodermatitis is a
persistent aliment that many people suffer from throughout their lives.

“The
fact that few doctors acknowledge that demodex is the only cause of the
ailment compounds difficulty in curing it” he
says.

Over the past few years, Zhao says,
researchers from many countries including the United States, New Zealand,
Australia and China have been investigating the incidence of demodicidosis
among the population, What they found was a conformity, each country reported
an infection rate of approximately 60 %, while the rate of incidence,
mostly through contagion, was around 10 %.

As for rosacea alone, one of the two
ailments caused by acarodermatitis, the occurrence rate was 2,44
percent.

“That
means 130 million Chinese people are suffering from acarodermatitis –
30 million of them have red noses” Zhao
says.

“That
is why I believe my work is so important”

The
Parasite

Demodex
is usually 100 – 300 microns long. In simple terms it is smaller than
the tiniest insect but bigger than a germ.

There are two types, the long and the
short. Parasitizing the facial sebaceous glands at an appropriate temperature,
demodexes reproduce by a generation every 15 days. The adult demodex die
soon after the reproduction and the bodies rot and liquidate inside the
sebaceous glands. Since demodex spend all their lives inside the sebaceous
glands, they physically and chemically affect the skin, reducing its immune
competence, and causing allergic reactions in some parts of skin tissues,
where red spots (acne) breaks out. This is sometimes known as adolescent
acne for obvious reasons.

“If
not treated properly with correct medication, the inflammation will reoccur,
In more serious cases, the epidermis, or the appearance of skin, will
be permanently injured, scars resembling the texture of orange skin will
be left, hairfollicle pores will
be enlarged, and the skin will become thicker due to hyperplasia. Sometimes,
the inflammation even leads to superfluous tumors or lumps, and red nose”Zhao explains.

What hinders the permeation of medicine
is the membrane enclosing the eggs of demodex.

Therefore,
patients are required to apply the ointment continuously, without any
intervals, until a seborrhea test shows negative, which indicates a full
recovery”

Zhao says.

Generally, he says, victims of superficial
demodex rosacea caused by the long demodexmites should use the ointment for 60
– 80 days, while patients of deep demodex rosacea caused by the short
demodex mites should use the medicine for 90 – 120 days.

The therapies must go on to the end,
even if the symptom of inflammation disappears two to three weeks after
first using the ointment.

Those who are found to have demodex
existing in their skin but do not yet suffer from acarodermatitis may
effectively prevent themselves from contracting the disease by applying
the ointment.

Zhao says he started to think about
finding a way to cure the skin disorder on the battleground of the war
in Korea (1950
– 53)

“I
was a surgeon in the Chinese People’s Volunteers in North Korea, A friend
of mine, an officer, had a red nose, he earnestly appealed to me for help,
I said I will try”

He recalls.

After numerous failures, Zhao developed
an ointment that contained both traditional Chinese herbs and Western
medicines, and in a few months, he was delighted to find it cured his
comrade of the rosacea.

“That
was back in 1956” Zhao says.

“I was fairly young and curious. I asked myself, why not try
the ointment on others and see if it also effects a cure
?"

So he did, from 1956 – 76, his cure
rate remained about 80 %, while the total rate of his ointment being effective
to a reasonable degree approached 100 %.

After demobilization in 1976, Zhao worked
as a doctor and deputy director of Hospital No. 153 under the Ministry
of Weaponry Industry.

A worker in his 30s asked Zhao to rid
him of rosacea, Zhao did it successfully.

The worker was so pleased that he told
the story to everyone he met. More and more sufferers sought the same
treatment. Zhao worked to improve his ointment and enhance its cure rate.
By 1984, Zhao’s treatment was in such high demand that he opened a special
clinic in his hospital, where he treated the sufferers of acarodermatitis
on Wednesdays and Fridays.

Before he retired in 1989, Zhao prepared
his ointment in the dispensary of the hospital.

His retirement however, terminated that
privilege. He had to think of finding a manufacturer.

In 1990, Zhao signed a contract with
the Xinxiang People’s Pharmaceutical Factory based in Xinxiang, Henan Province.

The ointment was named “Fu
Man Ke Xing” witch means “Killer
of demodexes”

In September 1993, the ointment satisfied
a panel of medical experts in Henan Provincial
Public Health Bureau.

A year later, Zhao set up Zhongzhou
Pharmaceutical Corporation Limited in Kunming.

Having improved the production of the
ointment, he renamed it Zhongzhou Ointment.

Zhao was a voluntary expert donating
his ointment to those who needed it during Beijing’s staging
of the Asian Games in 1990.

In August 1991, the International Congress
of New Drug Development in Seoul, South Korea, invited Zhao to present his thesis,

Instruction
of Zhao Zhongzhou’s Ointment for Acne Rosacea”

The congress granted him an official
product number of (91) P.D.-7 for his ointment.

In 1993, the ointment won a gold medal
at the Fair of New Science and Technology Results and Patent Technology
and Products, sponsored by the State Science and Technology Commission.
In 1994, Zhao’s ointment won another gold at
the Fifth Asian and Pacific International Trade Fair.

Zhao feels it critical to stress that
acarodermatitis is never a hereditary disease.

“It
is contagious” Zhao emphasizes. new-born babies
have no demodex mites, they get it only after constant contact with infected
persons, for example by kissing, or sharing towels, with those adults
carrying demodex mites.

He complains that prevention is neglected
due to ignorance.

“Doctors
should tell people how to avoid being infected”

Zhao’s target for 1997 is to turn out
two million boxes of his ointment, and gain gross sales of 60 million
Yuan
(US$ 7,2 Million).

6.
An
article from a Taiwan newspaper entitled “Recognition
of the Acnes”

Recently some newspapers in Taiwan carried
an article by Lin Xinmei entitled

“Recognition of the acnes”. “Fight the acne from its
predisposing causes”
.

He called on the people to fight the
causes of acne and eliminate them through the treatment and prevention
of the predisposing causes.He
summed them up as originating from seven sources:

ØExcessive endocrine hormones

ØToo much oily food

ØDirty skin

ØPhysical injury

ØEnvironmental humidity

ØCosmetic irritation

ØMedical by-effect.

In fact, besides the above-mentioned
predisposing causes, medical textbooks and journals both at home and abroad
state further causes which may be related to genetics or due to bacterial
infection.

Doctors
have been conducting their treatment and giving instructions on the basis
of so many theories. However, there is no final conclusion thus far. Doctors
have prescribed medicines whose results are not so satisfactory. Prevention
is almost beneath mentioning. The patient’s normal complexion has frequently
been affected by acne attacks. Even worse, acne infections sometimes leave
scars on the face, which causes much vexation.

Acne has attracted much attention in
the general population. Whether or not it can be eliminated depends
upon a new and correct interpretation of its predisposing causes.

Following the research of the medical
specialists in this field for many years, and based on my clinical diagnosis
for over 30 years, I am of the opinion that acne is a skin disease
caused by demodex mites and that after the application of my patented
new medicine “Zhongzhou ointment”, the acnes soon vanishes.

According to an investigation of the
infection of demodex mites in the human body made by scholars both at
home and abroad, the total infection rate makes up 60%, and from those
60%, some 10% are heavily infested with demodex mites, the same amount
as those are suffering from acne.

Some aged people also suffer from acne
and rosacea, which some would mistake as being hereditary but they are
not. They are in fact, contagious diseases.

Medical science has proven that newly
born babies are free of these diseases and they become infested by physical
contact with adults suffering from these diseases by kissing, face to
face hugging, towels etc.

As they grow, the babies will have more
and more contact with infested people. This means a greater chance of
the reproduction rate of the demodex. However, as previously
stated, only 10% out of the 60% of those with infection from the mites
will grow into a disease.People with stronger immune systems don’t have
a negative reaction to the mites etc.

According to the research, once the
human body is infected, the demodex will become parasitic, mainly in the
sebum of the hair follicles of the face where body touch is frequent,
the sebaceous glands are well developed and the temperature is perfect.
They absorb nourishment, excrete wastes, copulate and laying eggs. Within
15 days, they give birth to a new generation, the mites die, rot andliquefying in the
skin.

As the demodex complete the entirety
of their life cycle in the sebum glands and hair follicles, they cause
mechanical and chemical stimulation to the skin. More and more stimulation
will produce an allergic reaction that leads to inflammation such as,
popular eruption, pustules etc. which we all know as acne and even erythema.

If this situation is not followed
by correct diagnosis and treatment, the mites will increasingly multiply
and the inflammation will get worse, leaving scars on the face, the damaged
pores accompanied with widening of the capillaries, thicker skin, hyperplasia
and worse, there might be vegetation or pimples which will spoil the skin.

Starting from this new medical theory
and practice, we would come to a new comprehension and explanation of
the predisposing causes of acne, and open up a new path for combating
it.

In order to get rid of acne, we must
popularize advanced medical knowledge, cast away all the specious theories,
and prevent the infection and spreading of the demodex mites.

To achieve this, the adults must take
care of the younger generation.

They will have to take measures for
the prevention and effective cure of the demodex mite infection themselves.

Where there are facilities, training
classes should be opened and general investigation and treatment of the
disease be conducted, by doing so, the acne and rosacea can definitely
be eliminated in a sweeping battle.

Translation of a article published in "Bulletin of the academy of
Sciences of the Republic of Kazakhstan", 1992, No. 4, pp.84-88

(NOTE: We made some slight changes in an attempt
to make this article more readable, you can see a copy of the original
(Russian) article with this link: demodicosis
russian)

Demodicosis as an independent disease has not yet well investigated.
However, in the past decades the interest in this and other mites diseases
has considerably grown (A.A.Antonyev et al.., 1988; R.D.Zhaxylykova, 1990)

The clinical picture of the demodicosis from the moment of infestation
to development of various complications has not been adequately described.
Moreover, up to now, the issue of pathogenic role of the mites Demodex
upon the human beings remains disputable.

Material and investigation methods

In the laboratories, the Demodex mites were detected in almost all 6547
patients examined. In the investigation, we used the methods developed
by our team (R.D.Zhaxylykova, 1990)
1: Direct micro scoping of the skin and mucous membrane surfaces in vivo
by application of the adapted devices magnifying at least 50 times.
2: Rubbing in the pores of the skin with rapidly penetrating anti parasitic
that cause destruction of the Demodex in the place of their habitat, and
thereby release the allergenic components on which the local allergic
reaction is being developed in the form of an edema of the connective
tissue capsule, this leads to appearance of a visible papule - demodicosis
focus. Moreover, we applied the universally known methods of scraping
(B.P.Baksht,1966) and epilation (M.M.Mukhina, V.E.Yevseeva, 1980).
The 790 patients infected with Demodex were examined by the provocative
method of detection of the Demodex colonies (R.D.Zhaxylykova, M.K.Kenenbayeva,
1990) The papules detected in all the patients were examined by subsequent
micro scoping. In 93% of them were Demodex mites detected, in 0,4%
- Sarcoptes scabiei, in 6,6% - colonies of by us, unidentified mites.
Moreover, 10 persons with healthy skin were examined by, for us, accessible
methods and in which the mites and their colonies not have been found.

A long-term dynamic observation was conducted over 342 patients infected
by Demodex, infestation of these patients occurred through natural conditions
more then 15 years ago till they became the sick persons with the laboratorial
confirmed demodicosis.
Besides that, demodicosis was also produced experimentally on a volunteer
who had a healthy skin and on two cats which preliminary were thoroughly
prepared for the experiment in which the cats, during a period of tree
months where bathed every day with soap and brush.
Infestation of the volunteer was executed through the pre-boiled wisp
of bast, on which the Demodex mites were taken from the "butterfly"
region from the face a patient having laboratorial confirmed demodicosis
on the face.
By use of anti parasitics, there were 151 patients successfully cured
who had various clinical manifestations and complications (so called clinical
masks) /R.D.Zhaxylykova, 1990/ of the demodicosis (see Table).

Results of the investigations and discussion

Several investigators /A.K.Akbulatova, 1966; T.Rufli, G.Mumcuoglu, 1981/
marked in their papers at the high percentage of the Demodex infestation
of the skin of the dermatologic patients and of "practically healthy"
persons. We have a different point of view upon this fact. Among
the infected by Demodex, in 62% of the examined persons there were
clearly found expressed subjective sensations from the part of the skin.
At the purposing questioning this percentage increased up to 84%. Periodical
slight stroking’s, mainly of the face skin, scratching which was
observed in almost all examined patients allow us to speak about availability
of the subjective symptoms in 100% of the patients under observation.
Upon examining the subclinical and clinical manifestations of the demodicosis
or its complications were found in all persons infested by Demodex.
Absence of the mites in the skin of the examined persons with healthy
skin testifies correctness of the clinical observations being carried
out. Also this is confirmed by effective antiparasitic treatment of the
patients, to which the specialists of different profiles gave different
diagnosis. Absence or sharp decrease in percentage of detection of the
mites in the skin of the treated patients (see Table) together with the
positive dynamics of the clinical picture allow us to conclude as per
their involvement in origination and development of the indicated diseases.
However we consider necessary to continue investigations in this aspect
with the acarological observation of the affected ("shock")
organs and tissues.

As per mechanisms in development of allergic complications due to demodicosis,
our points of view completely coincide with points of view and conclusions
of the allergologists /V.I.Pytsky, et al.,1984/. Long-term, let it be
even symbiotic (as the dermatologists and some other specialists consider)
presence of Demodex in the human being skin pores in considerable amounts
(from 1 sq. cm of the skin there were picked out up to 500 specimen of
the Demodex /Yu.S.Balashov, 1982/) may cause sensibilization of the host`s
organism. Effectiveness of the antiparasitic therapy makes it possible
to conclude that over 151 years from the moment of detection in the glands
of the skin of the human being in 100% of the examined persons the Demodex
could transfer from the symbiotic to the parasitic mode of life. A
similar phenomenon can be observed in the microcosm not infrequently /K.I.Skryabin
et al., 1934/. This fact can explain the infectious nature, being found
by the epidemiological investigators, of growth and dissemination of allergy
and other, so called non-infectious, diseases /A.M.Vikhert, A.V.Chaklin,
1990/, some of which are listed in the Table given in this paper.

The demodicosis in 100% cases are inherited from the mother /Yu.S.Balashov,1982/.
Our clinical observations have also shown 100% infestation by Demodex
of the children of all ages beginning from the first days of their life.
Therefore we consider that demodicosis and the associative diseases with
participation of the Demodex began to affect the younger persons than
it was earlier /K.S.Ternovoi et al., 1990/. Our investigations show that
majority of the famous allergenes destroy the microscopic mites present
in the organism of the patient with allergy. In this case a great amount
of allergene components of the mites are being released, to which the
host organism has been sensibilized. This fact was considered by us during
treatment of the allergologic patients. For complete deliverance of the
patients organism from the mites we used the "allergenic" for
them earlier factors (food, medical preparations, pollen, etc.), which
gave us possibility to reach complete liquidation of allergy in 91% of
the allergologic patients. Diversity of clinical manifestations and complications
of the demodicosis, from one part, may be the result of high self-organization
of such microscopic organism as the mites Demodex /V.I.Zakharov, 1972/.
From the other part, as it is known from literature, the mites can
transfer on their bodies the smaller organisms: viruses, bacteria, fungi,
etc. /Yu.S.Balashov,1982/. This may be the reason of development of
the associative diseases, being caused, for example, by the Demodex and
by the definite virus (including AIDS), by the Demodex and by the definite
bacterium, etc. There may be very many such combinations, therefore clinical
manifestations of the associative disease may be very different. Availability
of the pricking-sucking-cutting mouth apparatus in the Demodex /Yu.S.Balashov,
1982/ promotes the appearance of the above-listed combinations of various
associations (bacteria, viruses, etc.). Detection in one and the same
patient of three varieties of the mites allows to speak about existence
of the diseases caused by association of different mites with different
microorganisms. The afore said may be added with information about high
invasiveness of people to helmiths /N.N.Glamazanova, 1987/. Taking into
consideration the above-mentioned data there may be supposed a possibility
of wide spread of associative diseases, in which the Demodex may be an
active etiological component. The high percentage of invasiveness of the
skin and mucous membranes by the Demodex together with the available information
in the literature gives us possibility to ascertain the availability of
the demodicosis pandemic. It would be more correct to say about the pandemic
of the associative diseases, in which the Demodex is the etiologic connecting
base.

The demodicosis, that is not taken into consideration in the medical
practice, considerably complicate the cause of famous infectious and noninfectious
diseases. Availability of pandemic of the demodicosis and the associative
diseases requires consolidation of the efforts of biologists, parasitologists,
veterinary and medical specialists for liquidation of all manifestations
and complications of these diseases.

In the original this paper was published in the journal "Bulletin
of the Academy of Sciences of the Republic of Kazakhstan", 1992,
No 4, pp.84-88.

8. Find
out more about Demodex mites and treatment in the FAQA lot more information
about the mites and the treatment you can find in the FAQ
section, there will be new answers added in response to the questions
we receive.